Bengaluru: Now that its rival parties have taken to social media in a big way, the Congress clearly does not intend to lag behind, especially with elections to the Karnataka assembly fast approaching. The party has recently made it mandatory for all state ministers to open Facebook and Twitter accounts to highlight the performance of their respective departments and give them maximum publicity in the run-up to the poll.
Although no deadline has been set for the ministers to comply, they have been asked to do it as soon as possible, according to Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) working president, Dinesh Gundurao.
Currently, only a few ministers like D.K. Shivakumar, R.V. Deshpande, K.J. George, Priyank Kharge, H.K. Patil, U.T. Khader, MB. Patil, K Byre Gowda , Tanvir Sait and Pramod Madhwaraj are active on social media, posting pictures of events in their departments and so on. The rest are not as computer-savvy and seem content with the coverage they receive in the print and visual media.
While KPCC president, Dr G Parameshwar, was himself not active on social media as Home Minister, he opened a Twitter account last week for interaction with Twitter handlers. And Chief Minister Siddaramaiah , who stopped using mobile phones long ago and has admitted to being computer illiterate, has engaged a dedicated team to regularly update his account on Facebook and share information on Twitter considering the party's new interest in social media.
"I have requested all the ministers to open an account on Facebook and Twitter immediately and post information about events in their departments in view of the coming Assembly elections. This has been told to all the ministers in the presence of AICC general secretary in-charge of the party's affairs in Karnataka, K C Venugopal," Mr Gundu Rao said.
Faced with the new diktat, ministers are scrambling to get a spot on social media. Muzarai Minister, Rudrappa Lamani reveals he has an official FB account but is not on Twitter. "I will ask my personal secretary to put me on Twitter immediately and start tweeting from tomorrow," he said, responding to the party's orders.
